Aurora's T Jets
first got a taste of brass when a few clever hop up parts makers (AJ's, Champion,
Mura, Laganke) designed screw on brass pans that typically used the body mount
screws to secure a shaped brass pan to the bottom of the Tjet chassis. This
added weight to the bottom and helped the cars stick...Cost effective, pragmatic,
and a definite increase in performance.

The TycoPro was
already designed on a brass platform so Tyco was already vested in the merits
of brass (along with an inline motor). The design and the hop up flexibility
of the TycoPro soon made this chassis the "pro-racer's" choice as
a starting point for custom chassis' until the Riggen Boss (see below) was introduced.
Aurora was the money leader in this game with the most to lose so they were
forced to respond---and made a valient attempt with the Super 2------ with mixed
results. Brass Panned cars were now winning all the races---and naturally the
hobby had to follow.

More Geography
and the "Commercials"
--While the East Coast had the big commercials Aurora and Tyco, the West Coast
Brass was represented by two large scale makers. Riggen
Industries who brought out their Boss Ho
chassis, and Dynamic with their "Checkered Flag" Dynabrutes
. Cobra,
also a large scale parts and cars veteran was based in the East but sort of
sided with the designs of their West Coast brethren introducing an HO "ISO"
style brass chassis called the Cobramite.
While there are no large commercials from the midwest, the area was very active
in racing and parts development. Many "cottage industry" participants
sprang up here including TCP, Laganke, Bronzeman, Bamberg
Engineering, K and K, and more.

(Dynabrute, Riggen Boss, Cobramite and Super2)

EngineeringAdvancements Achieved with the Brass Wars Pan cars...

--lower center of gravity
--floppy light bodies, also to remove the track vibrations and let the car run
smooth
--wider rear sponge tires for better traction (the jam
nut was INSIDE the rim, allowing more wheel!)
--lightweight aluminum independant fronts for less friction
--rewound engines such as Laganke, Bamberg
--(later development) lower magnets, first thought just to further lower the
COG, but then realized that the magnets stuck to the steel rail/braids too!

The
Transition...

In the mid 1970's,
it became obvious that traction magnets for HO were far more important than
a chassis having the absolute lowest center of gravity possible. That fact,
combined with slower growth rates for the slot car hobby overall led manufacturers
to stay focused on tweaking their current cost effective plastic chassis designs,
now augmented with magnets. The AFX Magnatraction chassis -- the basis of many
of the best custom brass panned slots--lasted in some form from 1975 until the
early 1980's. Aurora developed the G+ chassis in late 1975; an inline design
featuring traction magnets which gently evolved through 1983. Tyco stuck with
the TycoPro chassis in some form (ending with the TP2) through 1975, and then
came the first of many iterations of the Curvehugger chassis--with traction
magnets.

Gary
Rider describes the end of the era pretty well....once the magnets
hit the pan, then through the pan...a new era had begun....

Parts makers
such as AJ's and Champion also helped recreational/retail hobbyists improve
performance with clever clip on/snap on/screw on parts that mimiced the theories
practiced by the pro racers. These parts were very reasonably priced and very
effective.